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READING PASSAGE 1

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on Reading
Passage 1 below.

“Good bones”: an overview of high-tech architecture

Visitors to Paris’ Pompidou Centre often remark that the building seems to be inside out.
And this was very much the intention of the so-called high-tech architects who designed it:
for the building’s structure, which would usually be invisible to the public, to become its
defining external characteristic.

Approaching the building, the visitor’s eye is drawn not only to the steel exoskeleton but to
the mechanical and circulation features, such as pipes and escalators, attached to it. Though
the Pompidou is now one of the most recognisable examples of high-tech architecture,
when the building opened in 1977 nobody had seen anything like it. One of its architects,
Renzo Piano, described his creation as “a huge spaceship . . . that landed unexpectedly in
the heart of Paris”; he also referred to it as “a big urban toy.”

But Piano and his design partner Richard Rogers were not playing, and the Pompidou
Centre’s unusual appearance was never motivated by mere aesthetics. Like the modernist
architects who came before them, Piano and Rogers believed a building’s function should
dictate its form. So there was a practical reason for clearing interior space of unwieldy
mechanics: it would allow buildings to be used in a more flexible way. Over the years the
Pompidou has been able to host exhibitions, performances, lectures and more, thanks to its
unrestricted internal layout.

High-tech architects were also of the view that buildings should communicate their business
as honestly as possible. Many visitors assume that the Pompidou Centre’s pipes are painted
in a primary-school palette to enhance their visual appeal, but in fact Renzo and Piano were
using a colour-coding system: blue for air, yellow for electricity, green for water, and red for
pedestrian flow. Architects of the movement were quick to adopt Piano and Rogers’ system
on buildings from factories to airports. They also mimicked their use of lightweight building
materials like steel, and especially glass – if you come across a building with reflective or
transparent walls, it was probably designed in the high-tech style.

Though the majority of early high-tech architecture was built in Europe and the United
States, the style spread across the world during the 1980s and 90s and still has an influence
today. One of the most recognisable global examples of high-tech is the Burj Al Arab (1999)
by Tom Wright. The hotel, which is shaped like the sail of a yacht and built on an artificial
island, has become a symbol of contemporary Dubai but come under fire for waste. Thirty-
nine percent of the Burj cannot be occupied, setting it far apart from buildings like the
Pompidou which strove for an ‘honesty’ of form.

Another famous high-tech hotel complex is Moshe Safdie’s Marina Bay Sands (2010) in
Singapore, which had an equally dramatic effect on the city’s skyline. Inspired by a tower of
playing cards, the building has, like the Burj, assumed iconic status but attracted much less

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criticism. Before the Sands, Safdie was best known for Habitat 67, a complex of sustainable
urban housing designed for the Montreal Expo in the late 1960s. The architect never strayed
from his principles and ensured that his Asian landmark was built in a similarly
environmentally-friendly way. Marina Bay Sands has also been credited with boosting
Singapore’s economy, attracting 45 million visitors every year, and praised for its attempts
to integrate with the local community.

Unfortunately, social responsibility is not generally associated with high-tech architecture.

Many have noted that the style rose to prominence in the 1980s, a decade defined by an
obsession with money, and it has mostly been used in the design of capitalist buildings:
banks, offices and hotels for the super-rich. Instances of high-tech housing or public
buildings are extremely rare, and those that exist – such as Norman Foster’s Beanhill Estate
in England – were badly received by nearly everyone who used them.

One of the few celebrated examples of high-tech housing is an experimental home in

Wimbledon, London, designed by Richard Rogers and his wife Su in the late 1960s. They had
hoped to create “a standardised system to solve the whole of the British housing problem”
but abandoned this ideal as grander, more lucrative jobs rolled in. Rogers ultimately
described the house as a prototype for the Pompidou Centre with its steel frame, full-height
windows and sliding screens that allowed rooms to be reconfigured. But later critics have
suggested Rogers should have stood firm and used high-tech principles to inform the
development of better public housing, not one-off iconic projects that enhanced his own
personal brand.

Might it be the case that high-tech is simply unsuitable for civic architecture? Or have its
possibilities been too little explored? Nicholas Grimshaw, who in 1988 produced an
unusually popular high-tech housing estate at Grand Union Walk, London, believes the style
still has potential in the 21st century. The main thing is that the buildings “should have good
bones and they should be reusable,” he said. “I have always felt we should use the
technology of the age we live in for the improvement of mankind.” Though the technology
of today is vastly different from that of high-tech’s heyday, Grimshaw’s philosophy may
prove as relevant to a new generation of architects as it was to his peers.

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Questions 1-8

Complete the notes below. Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 1-8 on your answer sheet.

High-Tech Architecture

Features of high-tech architecture

- the building’s structure is 1 _______________

- interiors are designed for 2 _______________ use
- 3 _______________ are brightly coloured
- construction materials are 4 _______________

Notable examples of the style

- Burj Al Arab in Dubai was criticised for 5 _______________

- Marina Bay Sands impacted Singapore’s skyline and 6 _______________
Objections to high-tech architecture

- it is associated with a particularly 7 _______________ period

- Rogers should have focused on improving 8 _______________ in the UK

Questions 9-13

Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1?

In boxes 9-13 on your answer sheet, write

TRUE if the statement agrees with the information

FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this

9 The Pompidou Centre’s appearance surprises today’s visitors as much as it did in the
1970s.

10 Parts of the Pompidou Centre were painted in primary colours so the building would
appeal to children.

11 The Burj Al Arab differs from the Pompidou Centre in that its main aim is to make a
profit.

12 Moshe Safdie maintained similar beliefs throughout his career as an architect.

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13 Some of high-tech architecture’s key characteristics emerged at the Rogers’ house in

Wimbledon.

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